Dreamsicle Fruit Dip

by Jamie on July 14, 2011

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sunkist for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have always been quite perplexed by people that don’t love fruit – I mean vegetables I can understand, but fruit is amazing – well, aside from Red Delicious apples which I haven’t eaten since around 1995. I really can’t even pinpoint why I don’t enjoy them anymore, I just know that I don’t. Oh, I’m also not a fan of ripe bananas, but that about sums up my fruit issues.

When I was a kid I remember my Nana making a fruit dip with 3 simple ingredients marshmallow fluff, cream cheese and Maraschino Cherry juice. It was pink, sweet and amazingly tasty. I used to try to eat it with a spoon, but she always insisted that I used a piece of fruit – maybe she thought the fruit would somehow negate the fluff.

We had the usual crew over at our house this weekend and I refused to cook indoors because it was over 90 degrees outside. All I wanted for dinner was corn on the cob and fruit. The boys weren’t having it, so they decided to make Beer Can Chicken – which was all kinds of awesome, by the way.

After filling my cart with a bunch of fruit, I decided to go a little retro and recreate Nana’s fruit dip with a little Dreamsicle twist by infusing it with the zest and juice of Sunkist Valencia Oranges.

Did you know that Sunkist® Valencia oranges may occasionally “re-green” in warm weather? When Valencias ripen on the tree, they turn a bright orange color but warm temperatures may make their skin reabsorb chlorophyll as they hang on the tree causing the orange color to look partly green (just like I like my bananas) although the outside is green, the inside remains ripe and delicious!

I’m super glad Sunkist is getting the word out there about this “re-greening” effect, because now I don’t have to gripe at Brian about the green oranges that occasionally end up in the fruit bowl. I’ve got a scientific reason why he HAS to eat them!

This is crazy! today I was doing our weekly shopping at the market, and I was cheking out the marshmellow fluff wondering what I can do with it…
I love your idea, and will totally try it.
And I must confess, I too have to have my bananas green… the ripe ones become banana bread / cupcakes.

Love this dip! I remember my mom making a very similar dip when I was a kid, and it was always one of my favorites. I love that you added the orange zest and juice to it. That opens up a whole new world of possibilities!

Lisa-
If you find it to be too thick, just add in a bit more orange juice until you reach the desired consistency. The thickness will depend on how cold/warm the cream cheese is. Have a great day!
-Jamie

Sue-
Hello. I’ve been making this dip for years and have never had this issue. My first thought was that the cream cheese wasn’t at room temperature, but since you said it was, I am kind of clueless. Sorry I am not more of a help.
-Jamie